Hilda Conkling

Little mouse in gray velvet,
Have you had a cheese-breakfast?
There are no crumbs on your coat,
...

When I slept, I thought I was upon the mountain-tops,
and this is my dream.
I saw the little people come out into the night,
...

ONCE upon a time at evening-light
A little girl was sad.
There was a color in the sky,
...

love daffodils.
I love Narcissus when he bends his head.
I can hardly keep March and spring and Sunday and daffodils
...

I was bare as a leaf
and I felt the wind on my shoulder.
The trees laughed
...

THE butterfly swings over the violet
That stands by the water,
In the garden that sings
...

I went slowly through the wood of shadows,
Thinking always I should meet some one:
There was no one.
...

Eagles were flying over the sky
And mermaids danced in the gold waters.
Eagles were calling over the sky
...

Sun-flowers, stop growing!
If you touch the sky where those clouds are passing
Like tufts of dandelion gone to seed,
...

Little soldier with the golden helmet,
What are you guarding on my lawn?
You with your green gun
...

The Rolling in of the Wave

It was night when the sky was dark blue
And the water came in with a wavy look
...

I made a ring of leaves
on the autumn grass:
I was a fairy queen all day.
...

The old bridge has a wrinkled face.
He bends his back
For us to go over.
...

THE birds came to tell Siegfried a story,
A story of the woods out of a tree:
How the ring was fairy
...

The hills are going somewhere;
They have been on the way a long time.
They are like camels in a line
...

Now the flowers are all folded
and the dark is going by.
The evening is arising . . .
...

Why do you stand on the air
And no sun shining?
How can you hold yourself so still
On raindrops sliding?
...

On Easter morn
Up the faint cloudy sky
I hear the Easter bell,
...

As I walked through my garden
I saw a butterfly light on a flower.
His wings were pink and purple:
...

There are many clouds
But not like the one I see,
For mine floats like a swan in featheriness
...